Adventure Awaits
by xBlackBeautyx
Summary: Riku rescues a young boy from a sinking ship, and plans to return him home, putting Sora and Kairi in danger.
1. Chapter 1

(Author's Note: I don't own any of the following characters except Dakota because I made him up. Enjoy and please review:) thanx) 

The three of them lay quietly in the warm sand, staring into the sky. The stars are shining unusually brightly, and even some of them are falling, creating a beautiful streak of light across the midnight blue sky. The sound of the waves and the wind blowing are soothing, creating a very calm, quiet, and content atmosphere. All else is quiet, asleep, on the island.

"Hey Sora..." Riku whispered quietly.

"Hm...?"

"Do you think...we'll ever see something new? I mean...like a new island, or a new world?" he asked softly, revealing where his mind had been the past couple minutes.

"Riku, you're crazy." giggled Kairi, in her usual giddy tone.

Once she got quiet, Sora answered.

"I don't know, Riku...maybe..." he commented silently. He wasn't really sure of what he was saying, but he didn't want to tear down Riku's ideas. Riku was sensitive that way.

Riku let out a long, deep sigh. About seven minutes passed by before he made another comment.

"I just...I want to get away sometimes, you know? If I get bored or upset...sometimes I just want to leave...but there's no where to go except the same old islands." he sighed again.

He saw Sora nod out of the corner of his eye. Kairi just shrugged.

A final star flew across the sky. The waves were beginning to settle down for the night, and the sand was beginning to cool down.

"It's getting late, guys..." Kairi finally said after another long silence.

"Yea..." Sora sighed. "Maybe we should go home, huh."

Riku felt a little angry. Okay, more than a little, he was pissed. Why couldn't they be as adventurous as he was? What was so wrong about wanting to explore and see new things? Besides, life was boring now, why not go have a little fun?

Riku finally just sat up.

"Ok, fine." He said, and stood to his feet.

Sora and Kairi could tell he was upset, but what could they do? Leaving the islands was just plain crazy. They probably wouldn't get very far anyway, and if they did, it would be way too dangerous out there. They'd probably end up dead, and then what?

Sora and Kairi stood up also. Kairi didn't care that Riku was angry. He was her friend, yes, but if he really believed they could leave destiny islands, then he was just plain crazy.

Sora felt sorry. Maybe he should have been a good friend and encouraged him more? Or would that put Riku in danger?

"Well...see you tomorrow, guys..." Kairi said and hopped into her rowboat. They boys said goodbye and watched her row away towards home.

"Riku...I'm sure we could go...someday...maybe when we're older, ya know? We're just kids right now...when we're adults we can do whatever we want..." Sora was trying to be comforting.

Riku nodded, although he wasn't any happier.

Sora just shrugged and put a comforting hand on Riku's shoulder.

"Well...see you later?" Sora asked, making sure Riku was still his best friend.

Riku nodded, and Sora climbed into his rowboat, rowing off into the darkness of night.

Riku sighed. He laid down again in the sand and let his mind wander. Maybe he could brainstorm some ideas. Come up with a secure plan, enough to convince Sora and even Kairi that it was safe.

His thoughts drifted off as his eyes became heavy and his body became tired. He wasn't aware of how late it was, and laying in the warm sand had provided him with enough comfort to fall asleep unwillingly.

It was about three hours later, technically four in the morning, when Riku was awakened by a loud thundering noise. His eyes popped open to see a clear, midnight blue sky instead of his bedroom ceiling. He thought maybe he was dreaming, until he heard another sound.

It was a young boy's helpless screaming.

Riku sprung up, and was suddenly stunned by the image before him.

Out on the sea was a small boat, which had caught fire and was in the process of sinking. Explosions rang out as if the boat was filled with fireworks. Pieces of wood and metal were shooting up into the sky. There were pieces of wood and metal floating all around the boat, and flames covered the surface of the water. It was far enough away to where he couldn't see any people. He saw the flames and the wood, and there was some debris floating to the shore, but most of it would float out to sea.

The boat had looked really small, maybe only big enough to hold a small family. Though he couldn't see any survivors, he could still hear that god-awful screaming.

Riku jumped to his feet, searching for the source of that deathly, ear-splitting screaming. His eyes panned the surface of the water, and stopped at a plank of wood not too far from the shore. There was a very young boy in the midst of the wood. He was holding on for dear life, screaming and crying for help.

Riku ran to the shore and charged into the water. Riku was always good at thinking and acting fast. Any other person would have stood there in shock.

He ran to about elbow-deep in the water, and reached out for the crying boy. The kid immediatly snatched onto Riku's arm, fearing for his life.

Riku swam the kid back to the shore, and helped the boy into the warm sand. The boy was still screaming and crying frantically. Riku tried to settle him down, the crying was getting to his head. That god-awful screaming.

"Shh! Shhh...it's okay, it's okay..." Riku tried to hush the kid. The boy kept throwing his fists and kicking, screaming about his mom and his sister.

Finally Riku couldn't take it anymore and pulled the kid into his arms. The boy kicked and swung even harder, kicking Riku in the lower lip and causing it to bleed.

Despite the pain Riku held the boy tightly against his chest, as tight as he could, and began to rock the boy back and forth.

"Shhh...you're okay, I promise..." Riku whispered. He held the kid tightly so that he couldn't kick anymore.

Finally the screaming and crying had died down into little sobs and sniffles.

The boy was shivering uncontrollably, probably freezing to death, and crying into Riku's chest.

Riku held the boy close, suddenly feeling like a father, and tried his best to comfort the poor kid.

Riku looked out to sea and found the burning boat. Yea, there was no way there were any other survivors. There was absolutely no recognition of a boat at all. There was just debris covering the surface of the water, still on fire, floating away farther into the ocean.

Riku looked down at the kid. He looked about 10. Riku found it slightly humorous that the boy had silver hair like him, except the spikes weren't as defined as Riku's. His hair was soaked against his head and face, but Riku could see that the boy had beautiful deep blue eyes. He was very pale, most likely very cold, and his clothes were torn.

As Riku examined the boy, he felt the boy begin to tremble in his arms. Trying to think quickly, Riku thought of the sheet in the tree house.

Riku stood up with the whimpering child in his arms. Riku hurried towards the treehouse and up into the room where the sheet was. He set the sobbing kid down and grabbed the sheet.

"Here...um...take off your shirt..." Riku blushed a little, realizing he had never said those words before.

When the little boy didn't move, Riku reached down and helped the kid out of his shirt and shorts. After the kid had only his boxers on, Riku stood close to the boy and wrapped both of them in the sheet. He hoped to warm the boy up with his body heat, and from the slowing of the boys rapid breathing, it seemed to be working.

Riku pulled the boy close and laid down on the hard wooden floor.

"Shh..." Riku tried to settle the boy down and petted his hair.

Only five or ten minutes had past, but the boy was already sound asleep in Riku's arms, tears dried up completely. Riku was glad he had been here for the poor kid, but of course his mind reverted to one thought. This is proof, that there is another world...


	2. Chapter 2

(Author's Note: I don't own any of the following characters except Dakota because I made him up. Enjoy and please review:) thanx)

The next morning came all too quickly. Riku awoke, still holding the child in his arms, to the loud obnoxious chirping of birds and the ever-too-bright morning sunshine.

He assumed from the amount of sunshine that it was already close to noon. He sat up a little and looked down at the boy in his arms. He was kinda cute...

The boy had a pleasant smile on his face, as if having a really nice dream. His hands were clenched tightly around Riku's waist, as they had been when they had fallen asleep.

Finally Riku nudged the boy awake to ask him some questions.

"Hey..." Riku said as the boy awakened, "Hey...what's your name?"

The boy stirred a little bit more before answering.

"Dakota..." He finally mumbled, eyes still closed as if he forgot everything that happened and just wanted to go back to sleep.

"Ok...can I call you Cody?"

The boy took a minute, and then nodded.

"...are you feeling ok? I mean, does anything hurt?" Riku asked, taking into consideration that the boy could be injured. A consideration he completely spaced thinking about last night.

The boy shook his head and finally opened his eyes.

Riku's heart almost dropped into his stomach as he looked into those deep, ocean blue eyes. They seemed almost fake, they were so unusually...well, blue. And it didn't help that the kid was looking up at him with the most innocent expression.

"Ok...well...I'm going to get up now, ok? You can stay and sleep if you'd like...you must be...exhausted..." Riku said and slipped out of the sheet. The boy just curled up again and began to snore, which spread a little smirk on Riku's face.

Riku climbed down the ladder that led to the treehouse, and jumped into the sand. The sand was already unbearably hot, and he had to run to the shore to keep his feet from burning up. There were a couple of pieces of wood along the shoreline, that Riku hadn't noticed from the night before. He gathered everything from the boat that he could find, looking for anything that could give him an idea of where the kid came from. And of course, there was nothing.

After about two hours, as always Sora and Kairi rowed up in their rowboats. "Riku! What are you doing?" Kairi yelled.

Sora and Kairi ran up to Riku, who was surrounded by wood, nails, and a hammer.

"What's it look like?" Riku looked up, "I'm building a boat."

Sora and Kairi's mouths dropped open.

"RIKU! You can't-" Sora tried, but Riku held up a hand.

"There are other worlds out there, Sora, I have proof, and I'm going to find at least one." Riku said, and hammered another nail into a board.

"Proof?" Kairi mocked, "You have proof?"

Riku smiled, and looked up at the treehouse. "Hey Cody!"

Sora and Kairi stared up at the tree as a young boy holding a sheet poked his head out from the door.

"Wha-" Sora attempted to say, but couldn't finish.

As the yound boy began to wander his way down the ladder, Riku explained.

"I accidentally fell asleep here and I woke up to the kid screaming." he told them the story. Sora and Kairi were speechless.

Riku was finishing up as the boy approached, "And even without him, we had proof when Kairi showed up, remember?"

Sora and Kairi nodded in unison. Kairi had showed up suddenly on the island a few years ago, and was adopted by one of the families on Destiny Islands.

"Cody...I'd like to introduce you to my friends. This is Sora, and this is Kairi." Riku said as the young boy grabbed onto Riku's hand.

Cody held up the sheet to his face, as if either nervous, scared, or both.

Sora smiled and knelt down, "Hey there, Cody." This seemed to frighten the boy even more, because he held the sheet over his head and stepped behind Riku.

Sora frowned and Kairi giggled, "You scared him..." She laughed.

"I...I just want to find him his home again..." Riku said, hammering another nail.

Sora and Kairi nodded, understandingly. The boat looked really good too for a teenager's work. It actually looked like it might float. It was small though, and it looked like it might only hold two people.

Sora knew which two, also. Riku and Cody. He knew because Riku was pissed about last night, and that since Sora and Kairi hadn't been supportive, they didn't get to take part.

Sora frowned as he realized this, and looked down at the sand, shuffling his feet. He wanted to go...

Kairi knew better, she thought, and decided she didn't care if she couldn't go. It would be safer to stay on the island anyway. She'd miss them like hell if they left...but...her heart was still in love with the islands.

Sora reached down and picked up the can of nails and a wooden plank. He knelt down and held up the plank to where Riku needed it, and handed Riku a nail. Riku gave a smirk, realizing Sora wanted to help.

Riku didn't think he could bring Sora with, but with the help, he could get the boat done in half the time.

Kairi walked over to Cody and knelt down on her knees.

"Hey there, Cody. Do you want some candy?" she smiled, and seemed to have caught the boy's attention. The boy peeked out from behind the sheet. She pulled out of her pocket a small, wrapped piece of candy and held it out to him. The boy took it happily and popped it in his mouth. He grinned widely and giggled, as if it had been the first piece of candy he'd ever eaten.

"Riku, he must be hungry. How about I run home and get him some food?" she asked.  
Riku nodded, "Sure."

Kairi ran to her rowboat and rowed home. Sora stayed and helped Riku work on the boat. Right now it was shaped like a canoe. Riku needed to build the walls higher, and put a roof and a mass on it. Half of the boat would be covered, in case of rain or thunderstorms, and half would be open.

About a half hour later, Kairi came back with sandwhiches, grapes, strawberries, cookies, chips, and lemonade for everybody. She was always good with picknicks and things like that. She even brought a large blanket for them to sit on, and a cooler filled with ice to put in the lemonade and to keep the grapes and strawberries cold.

When Dakota saw the food he immediately jumped out of his sheet and darted towards Kairi. He was still in nothing but his boxers. Kairi and Sora laughed as they joined the young boy on the blanket.

"C'mon, Riku, take a break and have some food. You're usually the first one to the blanket, right?" Sora giggled in his usual innocent tone.

Riku stopped hammering and took in a deep breath. He sighed, and set down the hammer. He made his way over to the blanket and collapsed in the sand. "Hand me some grub." He laughed. They smiled, even Dakota.

After devouring the food, Riku went back to work, Sora helped, and Kairi played with Dakota. She had taken Dakota around the island, and showed him everything there except the secret place. She wasn't sure he was part of the group yet, and hadn't consulted Riku or Sora about it yet.  
She showed him around, and afterwards took him to the shore to play in the sand. She started showing him how to build a sandcastle. It was just a small one, but it seemed to entertain the kid just as easily. 


End file.
